That's not how I remember it.
I lived in Idaho when the guy ran for office. The talk among all the conservatives was that he was an immigration lawyer, which in fact he was.
He was opposed by every establishment Republican from D.C. to Boise yet, by driving and walking and knocking on doors, explaining himself, he beat the Republicans and Democrats.
He owes nothing to none of the powers that be and he speaks of it often and revels in it.
He is smart as a whip and great on his feet. A few months or so ago I heard him (on CSpan) speak at a Tea Party anniversary gathering with a few other conservatives---Labrador was bold and funny and inspiring in the manner of a young Reagan.
When he got to Washington one of the first things he did was to vote against Boehner for Speaker, one of only twelve to do so.
He was also part of the gang of eight who met with the Administration over immigration but he was also the only one to walk out, denounce the process, and declare that everything they were presented put residency (amnesty) first and border security second.
He said he would be part of no such thing. As he is Puerto Rican by birth his exit carried extra weight---his background deprives the enemy of their race card.
But make no mistake he is proud as can be to stand as a self-made American...and when he talks about it you can hear that he means it.
Is he perfect? No. But he's better than any I've seen since and before Reagan. Might he change, like they all do? Maybe...but I really doubt it.
Anyways my six-bits....
Right. He was part of the ‘Gang of Eight’ on ‘comprehensive immigration reform’ (aka, amnesty), but he walked out when he was getting too much heat for it, supposedly because he didn’t want Obamacare extended to illegals. That really doesn’t matter anyway, since he was for legalizing illegals.
I don’t care if he is somehow a good conservative otherwise, because once amnesty passes we’ll never have a conservative majority on anything again.
Here’s an article on why his candidacy for ML isn’t serious:
And here’s one on how he and McCarthy are both pretty much equally bad on immigration: